Charging Characteristics of Fatigued Photoconductors

Abstract

The charging characteristics of photoconductors that were electrostatically fatigued(repeated charge and photodischarge)and subjected to surface abrasion(cleaning blade wear)have been characterized by an electrophotographic incremental charging technique. This technique revealed differences in the photoconductor charging profile as the surface is incrementally charged up to its final surface potential. Samples that were charged and photodischarged but not subject to surface abrasion during extended printing showed hole injection from the surface and a reduced image density in half-tone images. The abrasive removal of damaged Charge Transport Layer surface layers restored the quality of the half-tone images. The half-tone image quality was not as severely reduced for the charge only sample(ionized gas charges but no accumulation of sub-surface trapped charges). The characteristic of these three sample regions changed with the extent of OPC fatigue. This methodology provides a means of characterizing and understanding the behavior of fatigued photoconductors.